Friday's Letters: How we can remove the rust from wheels of industry

YOU reported (Yorkshire Post, June 8) Prime Minister David Cameron accusing Labour of a "public sector splurge threatening Britain with 70bn per annum debt in interest alone" by 2015, taking 10p from every 1 of tax. That analysis isn't adequate; for, as is well known, the debt has mushroomed through the bankers' betrayal.

Ronnie Biggs got a 30-year jail sentence for helping to rob the community of 2m, yet the guilty bankers have got away undisciplined for costing the world thousands of times more in shoring up the very system that spawned the crisis.

Gordon Brown did well to go world-saving, encouraging the governments to regulate the moneyfolk; but nowhere near enough has been done by way of follow up.

Of course, waste should be eliminated; the Trident project needs dropping, and the quangos replacing by re-empowered local authorities.

But the splurge denounced by David Cameron is a fruit of taxes being too low, with "tax and spend" replaced by "borrow, spend, and tax through the nose to pay the interest" on the vital services of health, education etc, which will wreck Britain if cut down. The Tories didn't oppose the cut in income tax from 22 to 20p!

National self-sufficiency is a neglected virtue, and I am wondering whether the UK could follow the example of various local exchange trading systems, with interest-free local currencies, such as the one that delivered the town of Ithaca, NY, from the 1930s depression.

A supplementary national currency, on which the charging of loan interest is illegal might keep the wheels of commerce turning which otherwise would halt and rust.

From: D Wood, Thorntree Lane, Goole.

A recent Yorkshire Post front page (June 8) reports that David Cameron wants the public to help suggest cuts in order to get the budget deficit under control. With that in mind, I would like to submit the following for his consideration.

Withdraw from the EU – this would save an absolute minimum of 13.5bn a year, with billions more from the removal of unnecessary EU red tape.

Immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan – this would save about 7bn a year, not to mention the much more valuable lives of our brave young servicemen and women.

Cut 3.2bn a year from climate change expenditure, money which is being wasted.

Scrap the Human Rights Act – this would save billions in legal aid and court costs from what is in fact a villain's charter and is of no value to the law-abiding general public, but which does prevent us from deporting terrorists and other criminals while costing us billions of pounds to defend them.

Cut child allowance to the first two children only, with immediate effect, and reduce this to the first child only, in five years' time, with a view to phasing this out altogether in 10 years' time. The savings from this would be in the billions.

Charge all foreigners, including those from the EU, for all medical treatment upfront before supplying the treatment. The saving would be at least 20m-plus a year.

Stop paying all benefits to all foreign nationals, including those from the EU, until they have paid tax in this country for a minimum of five years. The savings would be in the billions.

Halve the number of managers in the NHS immediately and then look to reduce the remainder by removing any of those left who do not hold a medical qualification. The savings would be in the hundreds of millions.

Cut out most if not all of the quangos, The Race and Equal Opportunities Commission and Yorkshire Forward and the Health and Safety Executive are three for a start which are of little value and there are many more of little or no value which could also be scrapped, saving billions.

Cut foreign aid, especially to China and India, who are about to overtake us in the wealth league.

My memories recall pain of Thatcherism

From: JW Smith, Sutton-on-Sea, Lincolnshire.

I FIND it difficult to understand how Bill Carmichael (Yorkshire Post, June 11) can claim that Margaret Thatcher "was a genuine working class heroine" based on a single action which happened to benefit his family.

I am not deranged, unhinged, full of hatred and bile. I do, however, have memories extending far beyond the sale of council houses, which were not only made at bargain prices, but Margaret Thatcher banned local authorities from re-investing the proceeds in replacements. This single action consigned many people into the clutches of unscrupulous landlords who demanded extortionate rents, very often on properties which were no more than hovels.

I also remember three million plus on the dole, miners, steelworkers etc, together with many thousands more switched to sickness benefits

to get them off the unemployment register.

I remember hospital doctors regularly having to work 80 hours per week, sometimes even up to 100 hours, people struggling to exist on 75 pence per hour and working class people dying because they could not get to see a consultant and could not afford to go private.

Worst of all, along with many others, a working family friend of mine lost his son in the Falklands War – a war which could have been avoided simply by leaving a naval presence in the South Atlantic and which cost the workers of the country many millions of pounds more to return the Falklands to peace and security than had the Navy been left

on guard.

Finally, he makes a point about privatisation of the utility companies. Was this such a benefit, if so to whom? They are now owned by foreigners who attract very huge prices from all communities, both rich and poor.

Very many of the working class who should be indebted to Mrs Thatcher, according to Mr Carmichael, are long gone and in no position to express their gratitude for her largesse.

I wish I could bring myself to do it for them, unfortunately my memories will not allow me to do so.

Voters were let down

From: Coun James Alexander, Leader of City of York Council's Labour Opposition Group, Holgate Road, Holgate, York.

BEFORE the General Election, Labour pledged to not begin necessary public expenditure cuts until the economic recovery was secure so the pain of the cuts would be reduced. The Conservatives disagreed.

On January 10, David Cameron told the BBC that Conservatives would "start early" and "go further" than Labour. On March 13, the Liberal Democrats said they would not support any plan to cut public spending too early in the next Parliament. Nick Clegg said: "We think

that merrily slashing now is an act of economic masochism."

Yet, on June 10, the Lib Dems nationally gave ground to their Conservative coalition partners and announced 2.8m of savings for City of York Council this financial year.

This is on top of the 7m of cuts the local Lib Dems in charge of the council are already making. The cuts announced the other day included almost a 1m cut in York education and almost another 1m cut in York transport.

People in York were told to vote Lib Dem to stop the Tories. Those that did must feel very let down.

Conservatives will disappoint English nationalists

From: Robin Tilbrook, chairman, The English Democrats, Ongar, Essex.

REGARDING Tom Richmond's column "Time to scrap this Celtic fringe largesse" (Yorkshire Post, June 12), I thought it was a good article, but also that it was considering this question from a common sense and fairness point of view.

Sadly, that isn't the approach of the British political establishment.

One of the first things English nationalists need to realise about David Cameron is that he will leave them disappointed. The Conservatives have no plans to establish an English Parliament. Nor do they propose solving the so-called West Lothian Question.

We English need to bear this attitude in mind whenever people say to us that the Conservatives might be willing to do something for England.

Actually, the Conservative leadership, and David Cameron in particular, are our nation's worst enemy because they are less open about their enmity than Labour was and therefore their enmity is more insidious.

I would also remind anyone, who might think that Cameron means well by England, of his comment to the BBC's Andrew Marr in June 2006 about why he was happy to have more money spent in Scotland under the Barnett formula. He said that this was because "I am a passionate Unionist, I think that Scotland brings a huge amount to the United Kingdom. The Scottish people bring a huge amount to the United Kingdom… and I'm a Cameron, there is quite a lot of Scottish blood flowing through these veins". Just to make the point crystal clear to us he, has also said that "I'll take on the sour Little Englanders. I'll fight them all the way".

Cameron is not alone in these attitudes in the Conservative and Unionist Party.

As William Hague said: "English Nationalism is the most dangerous of all forms of nationalism." So will a Cameron led Government be pro-England/English? The answer is the shortest answer in the English Language!

From: David W Wright, Uppleby, Easingwold, North Yorkshire.

I WONDER how many of the flag-waving football fans will continue to support England when the World Cup hysteria is finally over by transferring their support and allegiance to England's more vital interests and ultimate survival as an independent country?

It is good that people support our sporting activities, but there are far more serious issues facing England and Britain.

For example, our withdrawal from the clutches of the EU, withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan and other countries where we have no interest or terrorist threat, to campaign for an English Parliament, and to rid ourselves of the curses of political correctness, human rights, equality laws and the endless directives and regulations which are suffocating our once great and proud nation.

We should be celebrating and campaigning to retain our English identity and survival, so keep the flags and enthusiasm for the more important issues.